Overview

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as ...

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This Book

Overview

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

Divergent - Movie Trailer

Theo James introduces B&N customers to the trailer for DIVERGENT

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

In this powerful follow-up to the smash hit Divergent, feisty orphan Tris threads her way through a dystopian world in which warring factions vie for dominance. Earns apt comparisons with The Hunger Games, but this is no imitation.

MTV

“This is one fast-paced read that sticks in your head for days after you put it down, both because of its video-game-like scenes and its thought–provoking premise.” —Hollywood Crush, MTV.com

New York Times Book Review

“With brisk pacing and lavish flights of imagination . . . Divergent clearly has thrills, but it also movingly explores a more common adolescent anxiety-the painful realization that coming into one’s own sometimes means leaving family behind, both ideologically and physically.”

BookPage

PRAISE FOR DIVERGENT:“You’ll be up all night with Divergent, a brainy thrill-ride of a novel.”

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“The depth and richness of Beatrice herself make this an accessible option for both sci-fi buffs and realistic fiction fans.”

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“The depth and richness of Beatrice herself make this an accessible option for both sci-fi buffs and realistic fiction fans.”

Rolling Stone

“The next big thing.”

Rolling Stone

“The next big thing.”

VOYA
- Ed Goldberg

Insurgent begins where the first book of this dystopian trilogy, Divergent (HarperCollins, 2011/Voya August 2011), leaves off. The Dauntless (brave) faction has allied itself with the Erudite (knowledge-seeking) faction and is massacring the Abnegation (selfless) faction. The Erudite leader, Jeanine, has perfected a serum that, when injected, creates a mental simulation allowing her to control her subjects, in this case the Dauntless. Tris and Four, both Dauntless transfers (not born into the faction) and Divergent (able to manipulate the simulation) have escaped, along with some loyal Dauntless, and have unsuccessfully requested both sanctuary and assistance from another faction. Tris believes that there is more to the war than mere dominance, and this is confirmed by Four's father, Marcus, an Abnegation leader. Marcus's shady and brutal past, however, makes him an unreliable source of information. As Four and his mother, Evelyn, leader of the factionless, plan a counterattack, Tris must decide whether to follow her instincts or follow the group. Insurgent makes little sense without having read Divergent. There is significant violence. Tris, the sixteen-year-old main character, is portrayed more as a whiner than the strong character the author undoubtedly intended. The writing is repetitive and not overly descriptive. This reader could not envision the surroundings in which the story takes place. Most characters are fleshed out, though. There are clearly some surprises, and Insurgent did answer one question that plagued this reader from Divergent. Having said this, following on the popularity of the Hunger Games and Uglies series, as well as Divergent, Insurgent will most likely be quite popular as well. Reviewer: Ed Goldberg

Kirkus Reviews

In this addictive sequel to the acclaimed Divergent (2011), a bleak post-apocalyptic Chicago ruled by "factions" exemplifying different personality traits collapses into all-out civil war. With both the Dauntless and Abnegation factions shattered by the Erudite attack, Tris and her companions seek refuge with Amity and Candor, and even among the factionless. But the Erudite search for "Divergents" continues relentlessly. They have a secret to protect--one they fear could prove more catastrophic than open warfare; one they will slaughter to keep hidden... Rather than ease readers back into this convoluted narrative, the book plunges the characters into immediate danger without clues to their current relationships, let alone their elaborate back stories. The focus is firmly on the narrator Tris, who, devastated by guilt and grief, reveals new depth and vitality. While taking actions less Dauntless than recklessly suicidal, she retains her convenient knack for overhearing crucial conversations and infallibly sizing up others. Her romance with Tobias is achingly tender and passionate, and her friends and enemies alike display a realistic spectrum of mixed motivations and conflicted choices. The unrelenting suspense piles pursuit upon betrayal upon torture upon pitched battles; the violence is graphic, grisly and shockingly indiscriminate. The climactic reveal, hinting at the secret origins of their society, is neither surprising nor particularly plausible, but the frenzied response makes for another spectacular cliffhanger. Anyone who read the first book was dying for this one months ago; they'll hardly be able to wait for the concluding volume. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

Rolling Stone

“The next big thing.”

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Insurgent continues Roth's dystopian cycle that began with Divergent (HarperCollins, 2011), and the beginning of the story will be confusing to those who have not read the previous book. As the novel opens, the protagonists are undergoing interrogation via truth serum, thus revealing the major events only sketchily alluded to before. This backstory keeps readers disengaged for too long. Roth's saga has at its center the division of humanity into factions based on their performance on aptitude tests. (These factions are Amity, Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite.) Originally intended as a benign method of governing, the separation into classes has devolved to the dominance by the Erudites. The members of each faction undergo "Simulations"—gaming during which the participants lose their free will and become killing machines. Tris is a Divergent, meaning that she has aptitude for more than one faction, and is immune to the simulation mind control. She and her teacher, Tobias, join with a group of people called the "Factionless," who form the nucleus of the revolt. Insurgent explores several critical themes, including the importance of family and the crippling power of grief at its loss. One of the novel's finest tropes describes this loss as "teetering on the edge of grief's mouth." A very good read, despite its difficulties.—Nina Sachs, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, ME

Veronica Roth is the New York Times bestselling author of Divergent, the first book in a trilogy that she began writing while still a college student. Now a full-time writer, Ms. Roth and her husband call the Chicago area home.

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i absolutely love this book!!!!! its honestly the best book i have ever read!

i love the mix of genres. theres action and romance and its constantly leaving me hooked. it was hard for me to put it down in class! in all its an EXCELLENT book. i absolutely love this book! i highly recomend it!

232 out of 263 people found this review helpful.

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Leah-books

Posted May 1, 2012

I Also Recommend:

I am a teen and I really enjoyed this book. It had such an inter

I am a teen and I really enjoyed this book. It had such an interesting story outline. Finished it very quickly.

176 out of 222 people found this review helpful.

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VulturiClanMember

Posted November 15, 2011

the best thing after the hunger games

if you loved the hunger games feeling then this is the kind of saga (i hope) that wont disappoint you. Im soooooo excited to read this one!

164 out of 217 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted May 4, 2012

Loved Divergent, disapointed in Insurgent

I loved Divergent and was so excited to read this one. It was good-not great. There were some editing issues, I really feel like someone dropped the ball on the editing. There were parts that seemed rushed and confusing-more description should have been added to make it clear to the reader what was happening. Also, there was one instance ehen Tobias says he and Zeke were doing something but Zeke was with the traitor dauntless at the time. I can only assume he meant Uriah, Zeke's brother. That should have been caught during editing. Another time, Tris sets something down and then two paragraphs later it says she sets it down again. I also felt like I wasn't getting a sense of the character's personalities in this book. In the first they were so well-developed, so I was surprised that at the beginning of this one not much of their personalities was present. It really felt like I was reading about two different people until about halfway through. I also found myself annoyed at how much Tris and Tobias were fighting because there was no real sense of what was going on. I think the first one had equal amounts of character developement and action but this one focused mainly on action which left it lacking.Overall, it was good and i will read the third, but I was still disappointed.

152 out of 224 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted February 21, 2012

Wow!!!!!!""""""
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first book was amazing!! Cant wait till the second one comes out. I know some dont like the series as much because they think it relates to the hungergames a lot. They are soooo wrong! This book is totally different then the hungergames. First off, tris is not poor and she knows what kind of guy she wants. She is also not stuck in the hunger games.

86 out of 150 people found this review helpful.

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Insurgent

I did it!!! I read the book that I was anticipating the most! And boy did it live up to its standards and more!! I knew this book was going to be so much better then the first, but I did not know that it was going to be that much better!

Last weekend while I was at RT Teen Day in Chicago, I saw some of my great blogging friends. It was so nice to finally catch up with them. But then I spotted it a mile away!!! My friend DJ had INSURGENT!!! I couldn't believe it... Then after some talking, :), he let me borrow it in exchange of me getting it signed when I meet Veronica in May! Boy was I so happy! I couldn't put it down! I couldn't believe that I was going to be able to read the ONE book that I could not wait to read. And was it worth it!!!

Tris is back and ready for action! But a lot as happened since the first time we met her. Her are Four are still together and waiting to see where their life is going to take them. But little do they know, that what lies is going to bring them closer then ever!!! Now I don't want to give too much away but I do want to tell you this...THIS BOOK IS SO WORTH IT! And I just want you to know that this book is defiantly so far book of the year!!! I know it!

Please, when this book comes out go and buy it! You will not be disappointed. This book has everything a book in this genre needs. It as some of the greatest actions scenes so far, and just the right amount of romance in it. Oh and please if you have read this book, go to page 301 and read it...this is the turning point for the book. This part made a good book, one hell of a book.

81 out of 99 people found this review helpful.

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ReenaJacobs

Posted July 17, 2012

I'm a bit shocked

Hmmm.... I guess I'm a bit shocked. I am beyond astonished I didn't like it nearly as much as Divergent. I'm really not sure what happened to this book. It's like the manuscript came back from beta readers with LOTS of suggested changes. Then the changes were made, but no one read through it to make sure everything made sense in the end. For example, [View Spoiler] Anyway, the entire book is filled with plot holes and inconsistencies. The Erudite are supposed to be geniuses, or at least logical, but they spend more time asking questions everyone knows the answer to than applying their logic to important tasks... like not letting people with questionable loyalties guard Tris. Character analysis. I was so not fond of Tris this time around. She was so intent on killing herself, I'm not sure why she didn't run back to the Dauntless compound and throw herself into the pit. It certainly would have been more effective than risking her life, so others felt obligated to save her and risk getting killed themselves. Even my beloved Caleb fell through. There was a point I was so proud of him. I thought, now here's a hero. Resourceful, dedicated, and level headed. Then I found that Caleb was just a simulation in Tris's head. Talk about your major bummers. He turned out to be the biggest liar of all. And Tris continued to fawn over him until the end. I would have kicked his butt to the curb and never looked back. "To the left, to the left. Everything in the box to the left." The ending. I hit it and found it terribly anticlimactic. I think it was meant to be a cliffhanger... end in a way to make me eagerly anticipate the next in the series. But when I hit the big reveal, it was more with a shrug and an "oh." This book had so much potential to be good. Unfortunately, it dragged and most of the real story didn't start until the last 100 pages. So how did I come up with this rating. Despite my many complaints while reading Insurgent, I clung to a three star rating. I kept telling myself, this had to be at least three stars. After all, Divergent was pretty decent. Every time I hit one of those plot inconsistencies, which were many, many, my rating plunged to 2 stars. Then I'd read on and convince myself Insurgent would pull out of the slump... we had to make it to three stars. Then another plot hole would hit a page later. I truly wanted to give this 3 stars, but this book was so poorly executed, it seemed dishonest to give it anything more than 2 stars. When I looked through other books which have earned 2 stars from me, this one didn't even rank that high. I'm totally bummed and feel awful this book wasn't better. I wish there was a way to take this book off the market and put it through a developmental editor before rereleasing it. Cut the filler, fix the plot screw ups, and make Tris more like the survival Tris in Divergent. This might inch its way to a 1.5-star read, but I hesitate to even go that far. As it is, I don't see myself purchasing the next book in this series. I feel like something went horribly wrong, and the people the author should have been able to trust to tell her the truth fell through. I read Divergent and know the author can do better. I'm just not willing to bet my money (or time) on more of the same I got from Insurgent. I am Candor, hear my truth!

66 out of 102 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 3, 2011

Such an amazing read

I couldn't put it down. It reminded me of the hunger games except it had a bit of a twist. It was astonishing and i can't wait until this book comes out. :)

55 out of 83 people found this review helpful.

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Divergent-Fan

Posted September 20, 2011

Who Knows

I read Divergent. If she matches it this book will be the best book ever!

48 out of 97 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted November 21, 2011

Yay

Cant wait for the book to come out. Way better than the hunger games!!!!"" Cant imagine a more indepth book. Tris is an amazing cgaracter, and so is Four....

38 out of 82 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted May 2, 2012

I just finished... it was good.

Ok i just finished it. I waited so long for this book because the first was AMAZING. And i am sorry to say this book is not amazing. It is good though. I felt like the characters personalities had changed too much, to the point that they didnt even seem the same. I know characters change, but i felt like i could not relate to the characters at all. Tris seems suicidal for almost half the book, ahd Tobias has just gotten to soft for my taste. Also, this book seemed a little bit repetitive, the same thing kept happening, Tris is in trouble because she made a stupid decision, someone saves her, brief moment where she seems to have learned her lesson, but then the whole thing repeats OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Now, dont get me wrong, this is a good book and i will definetly get the next one when it comes out (when???), but i was disappointed. I know with book like divergent, its hard to come up with a sequel worthy of the first, but i expected better. This is following the hunger games cycle: amazing 1st book, good 2nd book, god awful 3rd book. I hope the 3rd is better. Im still a fan, and anxiously await the final book. And i still have a book crush on tobias (love him) even though he has changed. Ok, to sum up: decent book, not as good as the first. But if youre a dedicated fan like me, you'll get it, and hope for the best in the next one. Happy reading! -Z

29 out of 40 people found this review helpful.

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AMAZING Followup to Divergent!! And HUGE CLIFFHANGER! I want the 3rd one NOW! It was such a page turner!

This 2nd book of the trilogy is AMAZING!! I absolutely, positively love that Veronica Roth picks up Insurgent right where Divergent left off. There's been no lapse in time (they're still on the train), so we literally do not miss a second. I love that, don’t have to read through a long summary of what happened before, it just continues as if it was just another chapter. Love that. **Will have spoilers for the FIRST book, Divergent.** Tris is heading back to the Amity headquarters, not to mention being devastated from having to watch a good majority of her family murdered and from murdering one of her best friends, while he was under a simulation. All these things that have happened to Tris, really start to take a toll on her mind. She is having trouble living with the consequences of the events that happened in Divergent. She has so many feelings and emotions to work through. Four (aka Tobias), Caleb, and Marcus are also accompanying Tris as they travel to not only to Amity, but Candor as well. They need to inform everyone about the war against Abnegation. As Dauntless and Erudite have teamed up together (Dauntless traitors that is) unfortunately, they gain no support from either Candor or Amity. Many things happen in Insurgent, and it’s easy to get confused. Jeanine Matthews is still on the loose and is collecting Divergent people for a purpose that is not fully known Tobias’s (aka Four) mom also makes a comeback, she is not dead, but the leader of the Factionless. Some major hell breaks loose. It’s really hard to decide which sides are the real villains, compared to factions that had just made bad choices. Veronica Roth does an amazing job of putting this incredibly complex story together, that just somehow works out, and I am not sure any other author would have been able to put it together so many different ideas, and make them flow so well together. One thing I really like, is that Roth decided to not include a love triangle when to comes to Tobias (aka Four) and Tris’s relationship. I was really worried she would, as it seems that’s what so many authors do in YA novels. It’s nice to not have that complication on top of so many other things going on. But there is other issues going on to complicate their relationship that has changed from Divergent, they have many of their own struggles to deal with because of varying feelings and emotions they are experiencing. Tris feels very helpless and is depressed for the majority of the story, and it shows in her recklessness. Tobias is a little more edgy in Insurgent, and really is trying to do well for Tris, but he has his own struggles, and you can’t help but to feel bad for him. Tris doesn’t always make his job as the good boyfriend easy. My final thoughts on this book: There is a huge revelation that takes place in the final half of Insurgent and the book ends with a major cliffhanger that is going to keep me crazy waiting a year and a half before the final book is out. (fall of 2013) Insurgent surpassed my expectations and I foresee it ending up on every single “Best of 2012” list later this year. I highly recommend picking up Insurgent, you will not be disappointed. Be sure to read Divergent first if you haven’t yet. Make sure to search for Veronica's FREE FOUR: Tobias Tells The Story. Its at Facebook, I have it at my blog, but i can't post any links. Its great to read a scene from Tobias's point of view.

23 out of 28 people found this review helpful.

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StarAngelSA

Posted October 20, 2011

I can't wait!!!! =o)

Divirgent was such a great book!! One of my faves!! I can't wait for this one to come out. I hope it will be available in ebooks. If you hav't read divergent, please read it, you won't be disappointed!!

21 out of 42 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 26, 2011

Omg omg omg oooooommmmmgggggg!

I cant wait for the second booknto come out!.i will mark my cupcake calendar for may 1! I love u tobias! Please b real! I totally agree with the crying into my pillow if they break up!!! Omg i hate peter face soooo much she should havve shot him when she had the chance! Anywayy! This book is gonna b awesome i can feel it in my bones! Ttyl! Tobias, four, tobias, four, hot, tobias, tobias.

19 out of 41 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 16, 2011

Omg

If tris and tobias break up im not going anywhere i will just sit in my room snd cry all day

18 out of 37 people found this review helpful.

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Luna-Nueva

Posted October 5, 2011

nook!

I really hope it'll be on nook edition. If it won't I'll be heartbroken. They better have the book in e-book form!

17 out of 48 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted May 8, 2012

Disapointed

It had none of the charm of the first book. Plot points were repeated and scattered. The scenes and personalities of characters changed so often that I never felt connected to any of them this time around. Have a feeling the final book will be even worse as she adds more landscapes to the story but less emotional depth. So disappointed because i loved divergent.

16 out of 28 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted March 31, 2012

Getting ready

100% Divergent has earned a spot in my heart and on my bookshelf. Insurgent is going to be just as good, if not better.

14 out of 24 people found this review helpful.

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